Sydney Svoboda

Reflection #4

Getachew

February 6, 15

“Popular culture refers to those systems and artifacts that most people share and that most people know about.” Barry Brummett (1994) That definition refers to the Internet, television, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Disney things that most people are engaged in today. We have talked about this in class many times how a lot of the stuff we see and hear about on social media portrays the bad and only the bad. For example, the Scholar Bishetta Merritt (2000) reminds us that, “African American female characters who often appear as a background scenery as: the person buying drugs, the homeless person, the hotel lobby prostitute. That even though these women aren’t the main focus they still project images into our heads.” If people have no contact with these women or people of another race or culture they tend to only get the negative view of those people. My SUSI partner, Mompati, asked me to be honest when answering this question, “What did you think or know about Africa before speaking with me?” I was honest with my response, and said “War and poverty is pretty much all I knew about Africa.” Before taking this class all I was informed about Africa came from movies that I have seen that involved war, commercials on television involved poor starving children in Africa. It is sad that people aren’t more informed about the good that is happening in other cultures and countries around the world rather than just the bad. I think because of this a cultural class should be required or at least suggested to take in high school or college. Culture is important and respecting others beliefs and ways of life is even more important. I hope someday the media portrays more of the good so Americans have a chance to see what other countries really entail.